An Angel, a Bridge, and an Emancipation: The Aftermath of Antietam

The battlefield
at Antietam is spread out over a dozen square miles, and at irregular intervals
there are markers where men from different parts of the United States, north
and south, fought and died. There are
markers and monuments where Robert E. Lee pitched his tent and where men from
both sides struggled at the place now called “Bloody Lane.”

There is also a monument on the field where Clara
Barton (left) served, noting that she “brought supplies and nursing to the
wounded.” The inscription also reads,
“This act of love and mercy led to the birth of the present American National
Red Cross.”

Clara Barton was
not the only one who served the troops that day, September 17, 1862. Future American president William McKinley
was a commissary officer during the battle of Antietam. McKinley was tasked with providing meals and
drink to the federal forces under fire at the site which would eventually
become known as Burnside’s Bridge.

This
bridge over Antietam Creek was at the center of fire between Confederate
defenders on the west and Major General Ambrose Burnside’s (below) troops on the east;
early in the afternoon, the bridge fell to Union control.

Though the battle
concluded with no distinguishable victor, Antietam would assume even greater
resonance in later years; the horror of Antietam gave Abraham Lincoln the
impetus to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, which subsequently linked the
war directly to the plight of the slaves.
The preliminary Emancipation was issued on September 22, 1862, just five
days after the battle.

As Civil War
historian and Antietam park ranger John David Hoptak notes, no less than eight
American presidents are connected to the battlefield. Both McKinley and Lincoln were serving the
nation as, respectively, soldier and president during their time on the field,
while the remaining six visited the site in tribute. John F. Kennedy toured the site in the spring
of 1963, viewed Burnside’s bridge, and re-dedicated the American purpose of
freedom there on the battlefield. Jimmy
Carter was the last president to see Antietam on an official visit in 1978.

—Warren Perry,
Catalog of American Portraits, National Portrait Gallery